BakerHostetler

BakerHostetler is home to over 1,000 lawyers across 17 offices throughout the United States. The firm maintains the requisite list of BigCorp clients, as well as a small, respectable lobbying practice. 

A Little Investment

BakerHostetler was founded in 1916 on the basis of a $1,500 investment by three lawyers in Cleveland. The firm has long been active in the political world, with namesake Newton Baker serving as the Secretary of War during World War I. A few years later, Baker attorneys represented private utility companies in their nearly 20-year fight against New Deal legislation that authorized the creation of massive public power projects. Baker lawyers later advised a number of key players in the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals. Today, the firm has grown beyond its roots with 14 offices outside of Ohio and lawyers coast-to-coast.

From Asset Recovery to Data

With specialties in business, digital assets and data management, labor, and employment law, intellectual property, litigation, and tax, BakerHostetler works across 16 practice areas in a dozen industries and focuses on emerging issues such as blockchain, the Internet of Things, and new markets tax credit. The firm’s client roster includes AT&T, Amazon, Cardinal Health, The E.W. Scripps Company, Major League Baseball, Marriott Hotels, Toyota Motor Company, Microsoft, Caterpillar, and PhRMA.

BakerHostetler is a go-to firm for bankruptcy matters, having gained international recognition for its role as the court-appointed counsel to the trustee in the Securities Investor Protection Act liquidation stemming from Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. With over 1,000 lawsuits filed and litigation attorneys in more than a dozen countries around the world, the firm has recovered more than $14.469 billion for Madoff’s victims to date, and these unprecedented recovery efforts continue. 

The firm also has a strong Privacy and Data Protection practice. Ranked by Vault among the Best Law Firms for Privacy & Data Security, the firm’s Digital Assets & Data Management team has handled the responses to many of the largest data security incidents over the past decade and the novel litigation and regulatory work that followed them.

A.I. Sidekick

The firm has a homegrown innovation team created to develop solutions to help clients navigate the intersection of technology and the law. In 2016, BakerHostetler became the first BigLaw firm to adopt ROSS—an “AI lawyer that helps lawyers research faster and focus on clients”—specifically for its bankruptcy practice. Attorneys prompt the AI program, which returns a list of documents, case law, and other resources that could be helpful when considering tough legal questions.

• Secured victory for Paris fashion house Hermès International in trademark case involving NFTs; the Wall Street Journal described the trial as “… one of the first to reckon with how NFTs intersect with intellectual-property law and free-speech protections for art.”
• Representing the SIPA Trustee in recovering funds lost in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme; an unprecedented $14.6+ billion has been recovered to date. Recovery efforts are ongoing in multiple countries.
• Represented the Official Committee of Tort Claimants in the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and PG&E Corporation, the sixth-largest bankruptcy in the U.S., ultimately procuring a $13.5 billion agreement on behalf of California wildfire victims.
• For 100 years, BakerHostetler has provided transactional, employment and intellectual property counsel to Major League Baseball. The firm has also done stadium development work for a number of professional sports teams around the country.

• Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certified, 2023—Diversity Lab
• Equality 100 Award: Leader in LGBTQ+ Workplace Inclusion, 2024—Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index
• Top Performer and Compass Awards, 2023—Legal Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD)
  Ranked #7 Nationally in the Midlevel Associates Survey, 2023—The American Lawyer
  147 attorneys were ranked and 64 practice areas were recognized nationally, with 17 practice areas receiving Band1 Rankings, 2023—Chambers USA